Want to encourage 6mo to eat by herself (pseudo-BLW) but...

[weelittlething]

... the only thing she seems to grab for and actively put in her mouth is toast/rusks. Problem is she seems to be allergic to them in some way (swells up like a balloon - had to take her to A&E).

Tried broccoli (the old BLW staple) and she won't even put it to her mouth when I place the floret in her hand. Tried carrot but she hates that even in puree form.

I give her purees for her meals at the moment but I struggle to find time to make them so she ends up having packets/jars most of the time which I feel terrible about. Really would like to start her eating more SOLID solid food so she can have what we're having.

Any ideas on what else I can offer her? I'm guessing the reason she likes the toast/rusks is because they're quite solid so she can have a firm grip but disintegrate in her mouth.

Some things we found worked well besides toast were pasta spirals, chunks of cheese, omelette strips, strips of roast meat or chunks of casseroled meat and rice cakes. Some vegetables he loved (parsnip, courgette, green beans and baby corn from memory) but it was a bit hit and miss so just try lots of different things.

When DD was 6 months old we gave her omelettes, scrambled egg, toast with spread, grated cheese, yoghurts, very steamed veg, lentil wedges and broccoli/cheese muffins. She's now 7.5m and will literally eat everything. Today she's had pasta bake and chicken casserole and wolfed it down. Xxx

Oooh and avacado. She loooooved avacado on toasted pitta ??

Rice cakes? I break them into chunks. HV suggested grated cheese.

ROMEO would you mind sharing your recipes for lentil wedges and muffins. They sound nice.

WEE have you tried fruit like melon and mango. They are easy to pick up but are soft when in the mouth.

Thanks all. Did you find that they picked up the food themselves or did you have to put it in their hand? Do I just keep putting it in front of her until she does it herself - feels like a lot of waste?

We have just started BLW with a 6 month old. She loves roasted veg eg. courgettes, peppers, butternut squash. We put it on her high chair tray and she picks it up herself. Cover the floor under and around the high chair with something clean so that you can pick up all the bits she drops and return them to her for another go!

DS picked it up himself but it did take a while before he got the hang of it. I ate with him and just put a couple of pieces of food from my meal on his tray, so there wasn't much waste really.